From the desk of the RIA Chair and Director of Automotive Sales for ATI Industrial Automation, Catherine Morris:

2013 continues to be very good for automation and for our association! Your commitment and involvement are sincerely appreciated!

Membership– We have blown past the long time goal of 300 members and hit a record of 317 at the end of September! Retention is also at one of its highest levels so it is clear that people are finding value in participation and working together to grow the industry for all!

25th National Robot Safety Conference – October 14-16, 2013 in Indianapolis –There is incredible interest in this conference since the ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 Industrial Robots and Robot Systems - Safety Requirements standard was approved and published. We will set a record for this event as we are closing in on 300 attendees. RIA Safety Conference

Automate 2015–March 23-26, 2015 at McCormick Place in Chicago– Even though the Automate 2015 show is still 18 months away, automation companies from around the world have reserved 80% of the current exhibit floor space. Leading robotics companies have already reserved more space for the Automate 2015 show than they did in 2013. This is an incredibly positive sign for our growing event and we can feel the momentum continuing to build from the 2013 show when our attendance grew 42% to more than 11,000 confirmed attendees. Besides robotics companies, we’re also seeing a large increase in early exhibitor reservations from system integrators, vision companies, and motion control companies and this is very exciting. Make sure you do not miss Automate 2015, North America’s leading automation event! Automate 2015

21st Annual Robotics Industry Forum – January 22-24, 2014 at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek –2014 is the 40th anniversary of RIA and we are planning some special activities at the Forum to commemorate this. We have a terrific line up of speakers and are changing the format a bit based on your feedback. We will be co-located with the AIA Business Conference and the MCA BusinessConference. Combined, these events will attract some 400 industry leaders from the robotics, machine vision, and motion control industries. The Forum is the premier networking event in the USA. Make sure you take advantage of the Early Bird Registration that ends October 31st. 21st Annual Robotics Industry Forum

System Integrator Certification – We continue to grow the certified integrators with more waiting in the pipeline. The total number of certified integrators is now at 16! Integrators definitely see the value and appreciate the opportunity to differentiate themselves from their competitors! Integrators continue to report increases in inquiries just because their name is on the RIA Certified Integrator page. Check this link for more information: Certified Robot Integrator Program

Webinars – This RIA initiative spearheaded by Adil Shafi and staff continues to be one of our major outreach success stories. The number of registrations and attendees continues to grow. Many of the attendees are in distant locations in the world. Almost half of the people that register attend live. Later, approximately 20% attend archived sessions. A growing number of high schools, community colleges and universities are now recommending these webinars to their students. We have several more webinars for this year and the advanced topics are being well received. RIA - Robotics Online - Webinars & Education

I firmly believe that our association, and our industry, can only be as strong as each of us makes it! I encourage you to get involved and participate! Spreading the Automation message grows business for all of us. Let me know if you have feedback or thoughts to share as I am always open to discuss.

Thanks again for your interest in, involvement, and commitment to our industry.

Catherine Morris

RIA Chair

For more information about RIA and the robotics industry, visit www.robotics.org or contact RIA Headquarters at 734-994-6088.